Graft compatibility in Prunus avium L.

Compatibility tests between valuable scion cultivars and potential rootstocks can provide both nursery men and fruit growers valuable knowledge about the risks of weak unions, necessity of stack or trellis support and longevity of the orchard life. The sweet cherry cultivars ‘Sam'', ‘NewStar'' and ‘Sweetheart'' and the rootstocks P. avium seedlings (the Alkavo selection), ‘Colt'', ‘Weiroot 10'', ‘Gisela 5'' and ‘Edabriz'' have been chosen as model plants and based on the results from the experiments and trials, it was concluded that: - The ten SSR primer pairs used in this trial can differentiate all of but two of 51 investigated accessions of sour and sweet cherry cultivars and cherry rootstocks. - Measurement of tensile strength in an Instron universal testing machine can be used in differentiating the degree of compatibility between sweet cherry cultivars and different rootstocks. - Calculation of the affinity index, from results obtained in in vitro co-culturing tests, clearly indicated that sweet cherry cultivars have different affinity towards different rootstocks and vice versa.